Our Sweet Story Starts Right Here in Our Backyard

At sixteen, Digs Dorfman worked after school, stocking the shelves of his grandfather’s grocery store. As a lifelong Type 1 Diabetic, Digs has always been passionate about finding tasty, healthy, and affordable food, so as a part-time high-school gig, it was a natural fit (pun intended) with his interests and lifestyle.

After a young adulthood working in the Montreal and Toronto music scenes, he surprised himself by finding his way back to the family biz, when in the Spring of 2005 he started running the High Park Organic Market.

Over the next few seasons, Digs began to feel more and more like a part of the community as he got to know the many kind and interesting neighbourhood residents who would pass by each week. At the same time, he began to feel more and more that eating well shouldn’t cost a fortune, and started forming strong relationships with local farmers who were just as passionate about healthy food as he was.

But people would always ask: where are we going to go to buy healthy food once the market shuts down at the end of the season? How about a local place where we can shop year-round? So, he bought some old fridges and some old wooden shelves and opened The Sweet Potato a few months later just north of the park in a cozy little neighbourhood known as The Junction.

Three weeks after opening, Digs hired a brilliant temp named CJ to help him organize the new office, and as it turned out, the two worked really well together. Digs asked him to stay on as an office manager, and as the store grew, CJ became an increasingly integral part of its operations. Nine years later, they’re business partners with an amazing and vibrant team of staff and managers working beside them.

In the fall of 2017, The Sweet Potato moved into a gorgeous 100-year-old building on Vine Avenue, just around the corner from the original location. We added a bakery, a butcher, a fancy cheese island – and space for two carts to pass each other in the aisles.

The Sweet Potato has been a big part of the Junction since it was mostly dusty old knick-knack shops, and it’s an honour to be providing delicious, organic food to such a warm, vibrant, and growing community.